Last year, the Washington Legislature took a bold step to improve teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM. By passing a bill put forward on behalf of Gov. Jay Inslee, lawmakers mandated a results-driven approach to improving STEM education throughout Washington.

That new law was an important advance for a state that ranks first in the nation for creation of STEM jobs, but ranks near the bottom in terms of producing college graduates with STEM degrees. This problem is particularly acute among women, who are far less likely to pursue such degrees, even though they make up more than half of all college students. However, faced with a dire budget shortfall and many competing programs, lawmakers did not allocate any state money last year to put the new law into action.

If our kids are going to have a fighting chance to prosper in the world ahead, they really need to be literate in STEM. At Danaher Corp., where I work, we design and manufacture a vast variety of high-tech products, and employ tens of thousands of people with world-class STEM skills. Among those are the associates of Everett-based Fluke Corp., a Danaher company where we design and manufacture electronic test and measurement instruments for scientific, service, educational, industrial, and government applications.To continue to innovate and grow, Fluke will need more students to graduate with the skills necessary to do that work. Without STEM talent, companies like ours cannot prosper and grow.

The new law provides a bold and results-driven approach to align state agencies and resources around a comprehensive STEM strategy and evidence-based framework for accountability. The law would help target the state’s STEM education efforts and target state dollars towards promising innovations and best practices. And it would help support growing number of regional STEM networks around the state and making competitive investments to improve STEM teaching and learning.

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